Railway freight-car.



PATENTED MAY-8, 1906- W. R. MULOGK. RAILWAY FREIGHT OAR. APPLICATION FILED DFG.11I 1905.

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W (yam JJW QL PATENTBD MAY 8, 1906.

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PATENTED MAY 8, 1906.

W. R. MULOGK. RAILWAY FREIGHT GAR. APPLIQATION I'ILED DEC. 11; 1905.

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No. 820,240. PATENTED MAY 8, 1906. W. R. MULOOK.

R AILWAYFREIGHT UAR. APPLIGATION FILED DEO.11, 1905.

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- longitudinal pers with its UNITED. STATES.

PATENT. OFFICE.

RAILWAY FREIGHT-CARP Specification of Letters Patent.

{Patented May 8, 190

Application filed December 11, 1906. Serial No, 291,362.

To all whom it may concern:

"Be "it known that I, WILLIAM Rnnronn MULooK, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada,'residing at Winnipe in the Province of Manitoba, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Freight-Cars, of which I do declare the following accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improved construction of freightcar that shall be capable of carrying) grain, coal, ore, or other merchandise in ulk in such manner that such bulk merchandise may be automatically dischar ed by gravitation, my improved car being a so adapted for carrying ordinary or package merchandise by the employment of a removableflooring upon a skeleton network or floor-support at the bottom of the car-body. This object of my invention is fully accomplished by the improvements in construction hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the several claims at the end of this specification, and the many advantages incident to the invention will be readily understood by those familiar with the construction and opera tion of railway freight-cars.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the skeleton floor or network at the bottom of the car-body, the upper portion of the car-body being removed. Fig. 2 is a view in central vertical section through a freight-car embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a view in vertical transverse section through a car embodying my invention. Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal sectional view, upon an enlarged scale, illustrating the manner of supporting and operating the gates of one of the hoppers. Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view showing the discharge portion of one of the hopgate partially opened. Fig. 6 is a fractional view, in vertical section, on line 6 6 of Fig. 3looking in the direction of the arrow there shown. Fig. 7 is a fractional perspective view of a portion of one of the hoppers atthe end of the car and the transverse bars passing therethrough. Fig. 8 is a detail perspective View showing the construction of the transverse bars adjacent the doorway of the car. I Fig. 9 is a sectional view of to be a full, clear, and ex act description, reference being had to the a portion of the end of a' car, showing a device for holding the'floor sectioris' in lace. Fig. 10 is a detail view in elevation o the operating means therefor, and Fig. 11 is a detail plan View of parts shown in Figs. 9 and '10.

In carrying out my invention the side walls and top of the freight-car may be constructed in'any suitable manner, either of wood or metal. The body of the car isdesignated as A, and it will be understood that this car will have its side wallsprovided with the usual or suitable door-openings 'd."

The bottom of the car is preferably formed with side sills B and with end sills-C, these side and end sills bein preferably of iron or steel angle-bars 'suitalfiy riveted to ether at the corners of the car. In the s ace ounded by the side and end sills B and placed the skeleton bottom that is formed of the transverse bars D and the longitudinal bars E.

formed with angular portions (1, that are riveted to the vertical faces. of the sidesills B. Preferably the angular or offset ends (1 of the transverse bars D are cut away at the top, as shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings, so as to permit the sloping side walls'f of the ho pers F to come substantially flush with the side walls of the car-body. The longitudinal bars E are preferably short bars, having their angular or offset ends 6 riveted to .the transverse bars I), as clearly shown in Fig. 1' of the drawings.

The series of hoppers F (preferably formed of rolled -'s teel plates) extend from end to end of the car, and the end walls f of the extreme front and rear hoppers extend into substantial line with the front and rear end walls of the car, preferably by providing the upper portions of these end walls f with downwardly turned portions 1?, that will be riveted to the end sills C. The hoppers F are of. conical shape, the sloping side walls and end walls of each of theseh'oppers leading to a bottom opening through which the bulk material contained within the hoppers will be discharged by gravitation. The side wallsf of each of the hoppers F are preferably formed' at their upper end with an angular flange arallel with the vertical face of the adjacent side sill B, to which it is riveted, as clearly shown in the drawings. Preferably the downwardly-turned flanges f 3 of the hopper As shown, the transverse bars I) extend from. side to side of the car and have'their ends that extends downwardly and walls f are side walls f are cut awa ends at of the transverse the side sills where the angular ars D are riveted to B, and, as shown, also these side formed with cut-away spaces to receive such of the transverse bars D as come opposite the central portions of the side walls f, The adjacent end walls f of the hoppers F are preferably riveted, as shown, to the lower portions of the transverse bars D,

these end wallsf having flanges that will be suitably riveted to the side wallsf of the hoppers. From the construction as thus far described it will be seen that the side walls f of the hoppers and the outer end walls f of the ho ers at the ends of the car extend substantia y to the line of the side and end Walls, respectively, of the car-body, and this is a feature of importance, as it avoids'any obstruction to the free discharge by gravitation of bulk material-such likefrom the body of hop ers.

T e 0 en lower ends of the hoppers F are provide with suitable gates G, and as it is mportant that these gates shall close the the car and from the lower ends of the hoppers in such manner as to guard against any accidental leakage or escape of the bulk material therefrom I prefer to sustain the gates G in the manner next to be described. The side plates f of each of the hoppers Fhas its lower edge bent to form the angular portion f and similarly the lower portion of such of the hopper end plates angular ortionsf hopper to form a f is bent to form the angular portion 7". A support H, formed of plate metal bent tothe angular shape shown, is fixed at three sides of the o enlng of each hopper-bottom, the upper e ge of each support H being riveted, as at h, to the lower portion of the hopper, while the central portion of each support H is riveted, as at h, to the upturned edge of the amflif of the hopper-bottom. ach su port has a flange h extending inwardly beneath the o ening of .each hopper bottom, this flan sufficient distance from the ottom of the guideway k to receive the gate G.

In order to insure against all danger of the sagging of the gates G from the weight of the material within the hoppers, I refer to extend beneath each hop er a brac et that con sists of the bars K an K; The bar K has its upturned end secured, as at k, to the hopperottorn, while its horizontal 'ortion extends beneath the opening of the flop er and is united, asat is, to the transverse bar K, and this transverse bar K has its u turned ends suitably secured to the side wal s'of the hopper-bottom. Two of the supports H, as

to-the sides f of the hoppers, while the third support H is attached to one of the end walls f of the hopper. The

upper faces of the flanges of these supports upon which the gate G rests are in line with as grain, ore, and the i e k eing at a the length of each the upper edge of the supporting cross-bar K, sothat the gate G may slide pro erly upon the flanges of the supports H an upon the upper edge of the bar K and be supported thereby.

As indicated in Fig. 4, the sup ort H that is attached tothe end Wallf of t e hop er is set into the angular portion of the bar K, so that the upper face of its flange will be in the same horizontal plane with the up er edge (3f the horizontal portion of the bar By this arrangement'it will be seen that when the gate G is slid into position to close the bottom of the hopper three of its edges will be positioned between three sides of the hopper and the horizontal flange on the supports H, so that no leakage of grain can occur at these points. remaining side of the opening, and for this purpose each of the gates G is provided at its outer end with anangular guard-flange g, which when the gate is closed shall aid in preventing the escape of grain or like material around the front edge of the gate, and this guard-flange g has its ends 9 extended beyond the edge of the gate, so as to completely close the slots or ways in which the The gates G may be sides of the gate move. 0 erated in any suitable manner, but preferably a bar M will extend beneath all of the gates and from end to end of the car, this bar M being united, as by arms m, to the outer end of each of the gates, so that when the bar M is shifted in one direction, the gates G will be opened to permit the discharge by gravitation of the bulk material from the hoppers, while when the bar M is shifted in the opposite direction the gates will be simultaneously closed. The bar M may be actuated in any convenient manner; but asthis forms no part of my present invention I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate or describe an means for actuating this bar.

n order to permit the car to be used for transporting ordinary packages or .parcel freight, I provide a formed of uniform and interchangeable sec tions P,,';t;hat extend transversely of the car,

of these sections corresponding to the distance between the side walls ofthe car body. The 'floor-sections P are of such length that any one of these sections will serve to properlyextend between the b: ttens or posts a of the doorway a of the car-body when the-car is to be used for bulk merchandise. In order to enable one of the floor-sections -P' tomore securely close the doorway a of the car-bod I form seats or cut-away spaces (1 (see Fig. 8) in the upper edges of those transverse bars D adjace'nt to the d-oorwa s, and into these seats or spaces (1 will be p aced the lower edge of the floorsection P, that is to be used for closing the doorway. It will be understood, of course, that the upper portion of the floor-section P Leakage 1s alsoprevented upon the removable floor that is placement by any desired additional means.

bottoms .of the hopper.

- doorways of the car preciated by When the car 1s to be used for the transportation of bulk merchandise, such as grain,

ore, coal, or the like, the interchangeable floor-sections P, except such as areused or closing the doorways of the car, may be stacked at the ends of the-car, as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. chandise is to be discharged, the gates G will be tpeneatnd the grain, ore, Qoal, or the like will pass by gravitation through the open When the car'is to be used for arcel merchandise, the interchangeable oor-sections P will be laid in position upon the skeleton bottom, and the will then be closed simply by the usual outside sliding doors with which the car-bodymay be equipped.

By forming thefloor of transverse sections substantially e ual in length to the distance between the we ls of the car-body it will be seen that any desired width may be given to these floor-sections, and this is a marked featureof improvement, particularly in that it enables eac'hofthe interchangeable sections to serve as both a standard floor-section and a standard door-section. ,So, also, byarranging the battens at the sides of the doorway of thecar at a distance apart corresponding to the length of the movable floor-sections any one of said floor-sections may be set snugly between the battens, so as to serve as a door and prevent [the escape of grain. These and manyotheradvantages incident to my present invention will be readily apthose familiar with railway 7 freight-cars, and it is not deemed necessary held against the art f the sprin R,an

to more fully set them forth in this specification.:v:. ;'e h

- In order that the flange g of the gate G and the projecting ends thereof shall be properly and supports H to prevent leakage 0 grain, the gate G is preferably connected to the operatingrod through the medium of a yielding spring. A convenient form of such a spring connection is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The bow-shaped spring R is centrally connected by a bolt r 'to the lug m'on the shifting-rod M. The ends of the spring R engage staples r'upon the end of the gate, as shown in Fig. 5. Bolts 1', fixed to the end of the ate, loosely extend through 5 heads on the outer ends of these bo tsengage the outer face of the spring. By thus providing the spring or yielding connection between the-gates and the common connecting-rod M all ofthe gates may be held in innermost position, with the flange 9 thereof snugly engaging the part f of the ho per to'prevent leakage. Means are also pre erably provided for snugly jamming all of the floor-sections P together to form a solid floor. which may be conveniently in the form of a.

struction and which is When the bulk mer-v floor are roun For this purpose a cross-bar S,

channel-bar or of other hollow material conthickness as the floor, is arranged at one end of the car, as indicated in Figs. 9 and 11. This cross-bar or floor jamming device is mounted upon a pair of screws 8 that extend through the end of the car and are mounted to rotate in suitable bearings 8 The screws are held a ainst longitudinal movement and are threaded through the'cross' bar S By rotatingjhg screwsthecrcss-bar or floor device maybe moved to bring the sections P of the floor closely into contact. Suitable means may be provided for operat- 1n the floor-jamming device, and any suitable means may be provided for operating the screws 8 i e In the embodiment of my invention shown the screws s are provided at their outer, ends with winding-drums t A hand-wheel T that is shown as located within the body of the car at a distance above the floor, is also provided at its outer end with a windingdrum t Around these drums t and t, which are preferably arranged as shown, an endless steel cable w is wound, as shown, so that when the hand-wheel T is turned in one direction the floor-j amming device S will tighten the floor-sections, while if the hand-wheel be turned in the oppositedirection the floor will be loosened. Between the'hand-wheel T and the end wall of the car on the shaft of the hand-wheel is fixed a ratchet-wheel t?, that is engaged by a pawl t pivoted to the car-wall in position to engage the teeth of the ratchetwheel )9. When'the floor-sections are tightened byturning the hand-wheel T, the ratchet wheel and pawlwill hold the floor-sections rigidly together, thus overcomin any loosening effect which might be caused ythe movement of' the train. Brackets 'u '0 secured to the car-wall, serve to hold the several drums in position. A deflector S, having an inclined face, is preferably arranged above the crossbar S, so that no grain or other material will lodge thereon.

Preferably, as' indicated in Figs. 6, 7,'and 8, the upper ed es of all parts of the skeleton ed to prevent lodgment of rainor other material thereon.

' The common operating-bar M is preferably provided with broken joints, as indicated at m so that itmay yield under the strains to which the car is subject-ed. The floor-sections P may be provided with rings or handles, so that they can be easily and quickly shifted to and from position. The lower ends of the hoppers may, if desired, be connected by brace-bars to strengthen the construction of the car-frame.

It is obvious that numerous changes may be made in the details of structure without departure tion.

Having thus from the essentials of the invendescribed my invention, what referablyof the same I sections and a plurality g slop pg side walls of said hoppers extending skeleton bottom, the

substantially to the side wa s of the carbody. H

3. A railway freight-car provided with -a skeleton bottom, with a floor formed of separate interchangeable sections substantially equal in length to the distance between the car-walls and with-a plurality of conoidal hoppers located below the floor-line of the car, said hoppers having their sloping side walls extending substantially to the line of the side walls of the car-body, and the end hoppers having their slopingend walls extending substantially to the end walls of the car-body.

4. A railway freight-car provided with a skeleton bottom formed of narrow, longitudinal and transverse metal bars, a plurality of conoidal hoppers located beneath said sloping walls of adjacent hoppers being secured to transverse bars of the 'skeleton'bottom and the sloping side walls of said hoppers extending substantially to the side walls of the car-body.

' 5. A railway freight-car havin its lower ortion formed of side and end sills of anglebars and having a skeleton bottom comprising longitudinal and transverse bars united to said side and end sills, and having a plurality of conoidal hoppers located beneath said skeleton bottom, the side walls of said hoppers being united to the side sills, and a removable flooring formed of detachable sections adapted to rest upon said skeleton bottom.

6. A railway freight-car havin a bottom portion formed of side and end sil s and having a skeleton bottom formed of longitudinal and transverse metal bars riveted to said side and end sills, a removable floor formed of detachable sections adapted to restnpon said skeleton bottom, and a pluralit of hoppers located entirely beneath said removable floor, the side walls of said hoppers being secured to the side sills of the car-bottom and the end walls of said hopper being secured to the transverse bars of said skeleton bottom. I

7. Arailway freight-car comprising a skeleton bottom and a floor formed of removable sections adapted to extend transversely of the car and substantially equal in length to the distance between the car-walls, the body of the car being formed witha doorway and with vertical battens at the sides of said doorway, the battens being separated a'distance substantially equal to the length of the re movable floor-sections, whereby one of said gates fitting in said slidewgygand an operaing-r0dwvherebyiid gates can be shified simultaneously. y r 9. A railway freight-car comprising a skeleton bottom, a plurality of conical hoppers located beneath the floor-line of the car, each freight-car comprising a skele of said hoppers being provided at its discharge-opening with a slideway, individual gates for closing the hopper-bottoms, said gates fitting in said slideways, a supp'ortin bracket extending beneath and across eac of said hopper-bottoms, and an operatingrod connected to said several gates.

10. A railway freight-oar comprising a skeleton bottom, a plurality of conical hoppers located beneath the floor-line of the car, each of said hoppers being provided at its discharge-opening with a slideway, said gates fitting in said slideways and being provided with angular flanges at their front ends to close said slideways. 1

11. A railway freight-car having a plurality of hoppers located beneath the floor-line, each of said hoppers being provided at its discharge-opening with a slideway, individual gates arranged within said slideways, a common operating-rod for said gates and yielding or s ring connections between said gates and sai operating-rod.

12. A railway freight-car comprising a I skeleton bottom, a plurality of hoppers located beneath the floor-line of the-car, gates for closing the lower ends of said hoppers, a removable floor comprising a number of sec- 'tions arranged to be supported upon said skeleton bottom and means for jamming said floor-sections together.

13. A railway freight-car comprising a skeleton bottom, a plurality of hoppers located beneath the floor-line of the car, gates for closing the lower ends of said hoppers, a

removable floor comprising a number of sections arranged to be su ported upon said skeleton bottom, a movable cross-bar at one end of the car for forcing the floor-sections together, screws for operating said cross-bar and common actuating means for said screws.

WI LLIAM REDFORD MULOCK. Witnesses:

JOSIAH THOMAS Ronnn'rs, GLADYs HENRIETTA ALDER. 

